Cheerful and Stupid
by Arigatou Sheitarou
Summary: Fate Testarossa often found it to her convenience to pretend not to acknowledge the pain she felt every time she saw them together. -NanoFate; set during StrikerS...sort of-


_Cheerful and Stupid_

Sometimes Fate Testarossa found it to her convenience to pretend not to acknowledge the violent wrench she felt in her heart every time she saw them together. Most of the time, to her, ignorance was bliss. An escape. A means through which she could block everything out.

Other times, when she was not so lucky, achieving ignorance was impossible. Those were the moments in which the pain was inescapable, because she was forced to admit that she was truly and irrevocably in love with her best friend.

That, in itself, was not such a bad thing. During all of her years living on earth with her adoptive mother and friends, she had watched many movies in which the main character, best friend of whomever, fell in love with said best friend, and through whatever miracle of God, ended up realizing that their love was reciprocated. A happily ever after usually ensued. However, these cases all dealt with male/female relationships. Which really kind of sucked, seeing as her best friend was female.

And if you haven't already, guess what?

_She_ was too.

Which begged the question: How the hell did that happen? _Why_ did it happen, even?

It was quite simple, really. She had woken up one day and thought, 'Wow, Nanoha sure is looking lovely today. I think I'll fall in love with her. There. Done.' But nooooo. Because one would think that if things were that easy, it would also be to her convenience that when she found out her affections had no hope of being returned, she could just as easily think, 'Darn it. I think I'll try my luck elsewhere. Maybe a threesome or something. Yay. There. Now I can pretend this never happened and go along with my life.'

But nooooo. Things were _simply_ not that _simple_.

XxX

"Fate-chan…could you come help me with something?"

The blonde haired girl looked up from her book and directed her gaze towards Nanoha, who appeared to be having trouble with her homework. She was biting her lower lip and twirling her pen in her hand as she glared down at the math problems she had been assigned. She envied the blonde for being so talented with numbers, as she had finished over a half hour ago, whereas she had been at it for an hour.

Her wine eyed best friend sighed and closed the book, not bothering to insert the bookmark her adoptive mother had bought for that purpose. She didn't really need it since she could memorize the page where she had left off. That, by itself, was apparently a large feat that not many were capable of doing, which earned her classmates much eye rolling on her part. Specifically towards Arisa, who was apparently the most in awe of her 'talent'.

"Sure. Where are you stuck?"

"There." Her brown haired companion replied, and pointed, "I'm not sure which formula I should use."

The blonde girl leaned over her shoulder to study the problem for a second before immediately spouting off an answer. When she looked back at Nanoha, she was a little taken aback at how close she was and how very pretty and blue the other girl's eyes were.

"Ahh…" She trailed off, feeling a little bit shy.

And since when did she feel shy around _Nanoha_?

Well, maybe since the time she had walked in on her changing during a slumber party at her house, or maybe it was when the brown haired girl had suddenly found curves inside her cereal box as her prize and had decided to put them on. But no, it was probably when she noticed that she was the only one in their class that bit her lower lip whenever she was frustrated, or had that odd little 'Nya ha ha' laugh. It also could've been when she realized the blue eyed girl would quite possibly give her life for others. The excellent sense of humor might have helped a little bit in that department too, and her bravery and selflessness were other qualities she admired.

But please.

It was probably the curves from the cereal box.

"Thanks Fate-chan."

And then the little vixen made it worse by smiling and releasing the full force of her 'I have no idea how pretty I am but worship me, worship me, _wor-ship-me!_' gaze. Fate smiled back nervously, feeling as though there had been a strike in her stomach and people were marching in protest.

"Ahaha…No problem."

And that was the end of that scenario.

XxX

As life progressed, she would learn that: not only was Nanoha_ never going to return her feelings_, she _couldn't switch the damn things off_. How sad that was, since many fanboys and fangirls wanted to date her.

But nooooo, she was stuck pining for her best friend. She couldn't have any fun. In fact, she was the only one in their little group of friends that wasn't dating anyone. Which really sucked.

You wanna know _why_ it sucked?

Well, maybe it was because one day she had been walking down the halls of their nearly deserted school when she just so happened to stumble across two very female, very best friend-ish people going at it. And guess who _they _were?

XxX

"Arisa...? Suzuka…?"

"Eeep! Fate-chan!"

"Look away!"

"Ahh, I-I-I'm s-so sorry!"

"_Just look away!_"

XxX

Yes. The awkwardness of that moment was forever burned into Fate's memory.

But it did come in handy since now she was well acquainted with the finer details of les-

…

…

So, the point is that it was a very awkward moment and her mind was never the same. Because, of course, she was doomed to catch them every single time they tried to do something.

Such was the luck of Fate Testarossa.

XxX

"So, Fate-chan, what are we gonna do toda- …oh…oh _wow_…"

"_Don't be such a pervert, Hayate-chan!_"

XxX

Right. Hayate refused to help her cause.

But back to the main topic.

Fate Testarossa was in love with her best friend. Who was crushing on Yuuno Scrya. Who actually reciprocated her feelings. And poor Fate-chan was left in the dark.

This was why every time she saw them together, she chose the tactic 'cheerful and stupid'. Maybe that way every time she had to leave them together, the desperation wouldn't be that bad.

After all, Fate Testarossa had always been good at blocking out unnecessarily painful memories.

And, after all…

Takamachi Nanoha had long since perfected the ability to deafen the things she didn't want to hear.

Such as the fact that her best friend was in love with her.

And maybe the fact that Fate's love wasn't as unrequited as they both made it out to be.

_**A/N: **So, it was probably an...open ending...which I don't really like to do...but I thought it was best to let it rest at that point. _

_Ahm, so, as I promised. There was your oneshot. Unfortunately- or fortunately, however you want to view it-, I have another oneshot in production, and an idea for a oneshot being processed in my head. Which might be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you view it. These things pop up in my head from time to time. Which is weird. But whatever. And anyway. I've made it my goal to finish Red R o s e s quickly, so that I can post this other idea, which has been making me itch all over from frustration at not writing it. Friggin' plot bunnies._

_So, yeah. Heh. _

_:nudges reader towards review button:_

_Thanks for sticking with me._


End file.
